Sheet-feeding device for printing machines with continuously rotating impression cylinder



J 1959 HANS-BERNHARD SCHUNEMANN 2,

SHEET-FEEDING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MACHINES WITH CONTINUOUSLY ROTATING IMPRESSION CYLINDER Filed Oct. 5, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 1959 HANS- SCHUNEMANN- 2 BERNHARD ,892,630 SHEET-FEEDING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MACHINES WITH CONTINUOUSLY ROTATI NG IMPRESSION CYLINDER Filed Oct. 3, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SHEET-FEEDING DEVICE FOR PRINTING MA- CHINES WITH CONTINUOUSLY ROTATING IMPRESSION CYLINDER Hans-Bernhard Schiinemaun, Wurzburg, Germany, assignor to Schnellpressenfabrik Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft, Wurzburg, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application October 3, 1955, Serial No. 538,200

Claims priority, application Germany November 3, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 271-51) This invention is directed to improved apparatus for feeding sheets in printing presses having continuously rotating impression cylinders.

It is an object of the invention to provide a sheet feeding device for printing presses having a continuously rotating impression cylinder wherein the time within which a sheet is removed from the feeding table and transferred to the impression cylinder is materially reduced as compared with prior feeders.

It is a further object of this invention to provide for transfer of a sheet from a feeding table to a continuously rotating impression cylinder with a minimum amount of sheet handling.

A further object of the invention is to provide for a transfer of a sheet from a feeding table to a continuously rotating impression cylinder with a minimum amount of sheet handling and yet provide for proper sheet registry.

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding drum for feeding sheets from a table to a uniformly rotating impression cylinder which operates similarly to a stop cylinder but is equipped with a sheet deflecting device which can be moved outward and inward of the drum during sheet transfer, speeds up removal of the sheet from the feeding table and at the same time maintains proper registry which is so essential.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sheet feeding device for feeding sheets to a uniformly rotating impression cylinder by a drum having similar operation to that of a stop cylinder but having a generally-radially moving arcuate support surface for deflecting the sheet and has grippers for the sheet that are only closed each time the deflecting support has moved radially back into the drum and the drum has stopped rotating so that a source of vibration heretofore existing in transfer devices is eliminated.

Further objects and the entire scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific example is given by way of illustration only and, while indicating a preferred embodiment of the invention, is not given by way of limitation, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the are from this detailed description.

The drawings illustrate as an example of the invention a stopping drum which performs half a revolution for each working sequence.

Fig. l is a cross-sectional end view of a stopping drum showing its association with a feeding table and an impression cylinder.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stopping drum.

A feeding or stopping drum rotating similarly to a stop cylinder is indicated at 1. Drum 1 is positioned between feeding table 2 and an impression cylinder 3 and has mechanism incorporated therein to transfer a sheet from r 2,892,630 Patented June 30, 1959 feeding table 2 to impression cylinder 3, as will be here inafter described.

A shaft 20 serves as a mounting for the drum 1. The feeding or stopping drum 1 includes two spaced apart end wheel-like members 24 and 25 made fast on shaft 20 by pins, or the like, 26 and 27 respectively.

The wheel members 24 and 25 support therebetween on opposite sides of shaft 20, two carrier spindles 16, 16' in suitable bearing bushings 28 and 29 in the respective wheels 24 and 25. Also supported between the wheel members 24 and 25 on opposite sides of shaft 20 are gripper spindles 11, 11' in suitable bearing bushings 30 and 31 in the respective wheels 24 and 25.

The carrier spindle 16 has securely mounted thereon, for rotation therewith and towards each end, swivel arms 14 and 15. These swivel arms have bifurcated sleeve portions 14a and 15a respectively that are drawn tight about carrier spindle 16 by cap screws whose ends are indicated at 14b and 15b in Fig. 2. Like swivel arms 14' and 15' are mounted on the other carrier spindle 16'.

Steering bars 12 and 13 are pivotally connected to the ends of swivel arms 14 and 15 respectively by pivot pins 32 and 33. These steering bars have attached to their outer ends an arcuate support 6. A duplicate arcuate support 6 is positioned on the opposite side of shaft 20 and supported by the steering bars 12 and 13'.

The arcuate supports 6, 6 for the sheets of paper being fed from feeding table 21 to uniformly or continuously rotating impression cylinder 3, as will be described, are pivotally supported by swivel arms 9, 10 for support 6 and swivel arms 9', 10 for support 6. The swivel arms 9, 10 are connected by joint journals 7, 8 to the rear body portion of the arcuate support member 6 and likewise the arms 7', 8 are attached by joint-journals 7, 8' to the rearbody portion of arcuate support member 6.

The wheel members 24 and 25 also support therebetween gripper spindles 11 and 11' positioned at opposite sides of shaft 20. It is to these gripper spindles 11 and 11' that the pairs of swivel arms 9, 10 and 9', 10' are respectively attached.

To seize the leading end of the sheet such as 21 on the feeding table there are provided gripper supports 5 attached to the drum generally indicated at 1 and cooperating with these gripper supports 5 and 5 are re .spectively grippers 4 and 4' n'gidly mounted on the respective gripper spindles 11 and 11.

Rotary actuation of the carrier spindle 16, as shown in Fig. 2, is by a control arm 17 made fast to one end of spindle 16. At the free ends of spindles 16 and 16 there is a control roll arm 17 and 17, arm 17 shown for spindle 16. Typically shown for spindle 16, same applies for spindle 16', is a pin 17a mounted to extend transversely on the end on arm 17 to receive a roll 18. Roll 18 is received in grooved cam 19 in wheel 19a which serves both spindles 16 and 16'. This grooved cam is mounted free to rotate on shaft 20 of the stopping drum 1 and is slowly swung forward and backward with each working sequence by a cam which rotates with impression cylinder 3 so as to cause the dipping in and emerging of supports 6 and 6. A typical way of imparting forward and backward motion to wheel 20 from a camwhich rotates with impression cylinder 3 would be by an arm 1% connected at one end by a pin 19a to wheel 19a and at the other end to the cam of cylinder 3 such as typically shown in US. Patent 780,130.

In operation the feeding or stopping drum rotates similar to a stop cylinder and stops after each working sequence which transfers the sheet from the feeding table 2 immediately to the uniformly rotating impression cylinder. In the smaller size presses with the smaller circumference, the feeding drum 1 has mounted thereon, as shown and as described above, two sets of grippers 4, 4' with cooperating gripper supports 5,5. The stopping or feeding drum 1 in such smaller size pressures has.

two duplicate oppositely positioned sets of gripper 4, 4 and 5, 5' and movable arcuate supports 6, 6 which make for a well balanced drum. In the position of the drum 1' in Fig. 1 where it is at rest, a sheet 21 has just reached the front lays of feeding table 2 and grippers 4, 5. The drum is rotated and as it rotates the arcuate support 6' will begin to move out from the drum under control of the steering bar, swivel arm 14 and 15', carrier spindle 16' and its control as described above.

Continuing with the operation shown in Fig. 1, the preceding sheet 22 which is in full swing has been moved outward by arcuate support 6 and become engaged with impression cylinder 3 which moves it along. This mechanism here provided increases the time available for positioning the next sheet on the feeding table.

While new sheet 21 is being positioned and the preceding sheet 22 runs off, support 6 recedes radially inward into drum 1 so that its position corresponds to the position shown for arcuate support 6. It is in this condition that the grippers 4 close and grasp a sheet. Immediately after this, the feeding drum rotates half a rev olution during which the new sheet 21 is transferred to the impression cylinder 3. During the ensuingslowing down of the drum 1, support 6', moves radially outward until it reaches its extreme position at about the stopping position of the drum 1 and in this operation the end of themoving sheet 21 leaves the feeding table in an accelerated manner, Upon completing this withdrawal of sheet 21 and feeding it to impression cylinder 3, the feed ing or stopping drum 1 is ready for the following working'sequence.

It is especially advantageous with this mechanism of sheet feeding that the control of arcuate support surfaces 6, 6' is performed to a great extent at complete resting orslow movement of the-drum land the drum 1 completely rests while the next sheet is positioned on the feeding table 2. The lapse of time in the control of the deflecting or arcuate support devices 6, 6' can for instance be controlled in a manner that swinging in of the deflecting devices 6, 6 coincides with the beginning of the feeding drum movement.

What I claim is:

1. Sheet feeding mechanism for printing presses comprising a feeding table, an impression cylinder, an intermittently rotating feeding drum for conveying sheets immediately from the feeding table to the impression cylinder, said feeding drum having gripper means for gripping one end of a sheet to be pulled from the feeding table, an arcuate support conforming to the curvature of the drum and mounted on the drum for movement away from and towards the drum to draw the end of the sheet not gripped from the feeding table at accelerated speed and means mounting said arcuate support, said mounting means for the support comprising arms pivoted at one end to said drum and at the other end to said support, swivel arms pivotally connected atone end to said drum, steering-bars connected at one end to the arcuate support and at the other end to said other end of said swivel arms, and drive means connected to said swivel arms for swinging the same to move the steering-bars to move said arcuate support away from and toward said drum;

4 2. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim including means for closing said grippers when the arcuate support has swung into conforming arcuate position with said feeding drum.

3. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said drive means connected to the swivel arms acts to move the arcuate support away from said drum as the drum slows down to deliver its gripped sheet to said impression cylinder.

4. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said steering-bars are rigidly connected to said arcuate support.

5. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said feeding drum is mounted on a shaft and wherein said drive means connected to said swivel arms include a grooved cam which-swings back and forth and is 'rotatably' mounted on said shaft mounting the .feeding drum and a cam rotating with the impression cylinder and having connecting means connecting it to said grooved cam for oscillating the same.

6. Sheet feeding mechanism for printing presses comprising a feeding table, an impression cylinder, an intermittently rotating feeding drum for conveying sheets immediately from the feeding table to the impression cylinder, said feeding drum having gripper meansfor gripping one'end of a sheet to be pulled from the feeding table, an arcuate support conforming to the curvature of the drum and mounted on the drum for movement away from and towards the drum to .draw the end of the sheet not gripped from the feeding table at accelerated speed, means mounting the said arcuate support in said drum for movement away from and to- Wards the drum, arm means movably mounted in said drum, a steering-bar connected at one end to the arcuate 1 support and at the other end to said arm means, and

drive means connected to said arm means for moving the same to move the steering-bar and attached arcuate support away from and toward said drum.

7. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said drive means connected to said arm means acts to move the arcuate support away from said drum as the drum slows down to deliver its gripped sheet to said impression cylinder.

8. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said steering bar is rigidly connected to said arcuate support.

9. Sheet feeding mechanism according to claim 6 wherein said feeding drum is mounted on a shaft and wherein saiddrive means connected to said arm means includes a grooved cam which swings back and forth and is rotatably mounted on said shaft mounting the feeding drum and a cam rotating with the impression, it to said groove cam for oscil-' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Marguardt Oct. 19, 1926 

